I had to stop this book midway, unfortunately.

The number of passages and lines in the original language followed by the translation was a major hindrance to smooth reading.

It's sad because I was really enjoying the story on one hand, and was eager to know what happens to the family.

Based on the description I thought this was a graphic novel. As others said, this really isn’t a graphic novel, I read a bit of it, but it just wasn’t what I expected.

Denison Avenue is a wonderful exploration of grief and perseverance after death from a perspective we rarely get to experience. Following death of her husband, Cho Sum is struggling with everything. She's lost her best friend, her companion in life, her link to her community, and her link to the outside world. Cho Sum must still pick up the remaining pieces of her life and fight for her place in her community. The book is very light on plot opting instead to seep the reader into the environment and walk through Cho Sum's circumstances within her community. I would have enjoyed it if the beautiful art was dispersed throughout the novel instead of collected in the back. Maybe it will be in the finished copy.

Like others, I was surprised when this was not a graphic novel. But then the illustrations appear at the end.

The written text is awesome, and it works well as a novella. Our protagonists are a married couple. Even though the husband dies early in the story, his presence remains throughout, and we come to know him better through his wife's memories.

Part of what makes the story work so well is the blurring between present and past. Hitting the stark black and white line drawings at the end was jarring and a sour note to end the book on. I also think that had this been as a traditional graphic novel then the story would not have been so poignant.

This isn't to say the art is bad. It's not. It just doesn't capture the emotions nor mirror the literary effects of the text. Illustrations that captured the blurring of time, identity, and the idea of home could have added a wonderful dimension. Instead, it felt like the art was stuck in the literal of the text to the detriment of the figurative that is where the heartstring tugs come with this one.

I plan to check the final printed book to see how it intersects with this advanced ecopy because of this disconnect. Get the book anyway for the story and the pictures, just not for them together. I recommend the pictures first for a realistic grounding to start and then unmoor from it a bit with the wonderful story.

Honestly, I felt misled by this book. It was listed as a graphic novel on NetGalley, though the majority of the book is text that at times wanders around the page to signify certain emotions or thoughts. The illustrations in this book all come at the end and depict how the neighborhood where this story takes place has changed due to gentrification. It felt like a lost opportunity having all of the illustrations at the end, and not woven throughout the book - perhaps at the beginning and end of each chapter. The sudden transition from text to illustration felt like an abrupt end to the story when I thought there were still 100 pages left of the narrative.

The story itself follows Wong Cho Sum, an elderly Chinese Canadian woman as she suddenly loses her husband and takes to collecting cans as a way to keep grief and loneliness at bay. For me, what this story lacked was any sort of interior narrative or dialogue. So much of this book consists of scenes where we follow Cho Sum's actions and descriptions of what she sees, or memories of her previous life with her husband. Which provides context for her character and background, but made the story and the themes it was trying to explore (grief, gentrification, having to face a rapidly changing world as a vulnerable elder) feel very surface-level, or hinted at rather than truly explored.

Set in Toronto’s Chinatown, Denison Avenue by Christina Wong is a moving tale about loss and grief, loneliness, and of aging in a society that doesn’t respect elders as well as the negative effects of gentrification on culture and tradition. The story moves at a quiet almost gentle pace as we accompany the protagonist, Wong Cho Sum, an older Chinese woman as she tries to deal with her grief after the death of her beloved husband in a hit+and-run accident. She fills her days wandering the streets of Chinatown collecting bottles and cans partly for the money and partly to keep moving as a distraction from her loss and loneliness. And, as the years pass, she notices the changes in the neighbourhood and how the things that made it unique are replaced with the characterless but expensive trappings that accompany gentrification.

Wong’s prose is beautiful, often lyrical, softly and quietly meandering with Wong Cho Sum’s travels and thoughts. It should be noted that Denison Avenue is described as a graphic novel but, at least on the reading app I used, the story and amazing line drawings by Daniel Inness are separate, drawings appearing in the frontispiece and after the story. A truly unique reading experience, one that I will not easily forget.

Thanks to Netgalley and ECW Press for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review

I really appreciated reading Denison Avenue. It was a tough read at times, as I could really feel the sorrow some of the characters experienced. I liked the mix of Chinese and English, as well as the interior thought of the characters. (The woman whose husband dies!! Gosh)
Definitely check TW.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this read. I was really looking forward to more of the art that was presented at the beginning and the cover of the page. Also it was said to have been a comic/graphic novel so I was ready and waiting to see the art and story in that format and it was not that. It was not easy for me to read due to my expectations but I put some of that aside and like the story that was told. It was heartbreaking to read about the sudden loss of a partner and the changing area. I really wish it was more comic/graphic but it was a good read.

I am not Chinese and I no longer live in Toronto but I still found this small book to be a moving story about urban gentrification and loss of traditions, culture, language. The illustrations are beautiful, and fit perfectly with the prose. I'm looking forward to rereading this small gem as there's much to meditate on here. For anyone who knows an older City of Toronto and familiar with haunts like Kensington Market and Chinatown, you will enjoy this quiet, meditative book.

Emotionally moving at times heart wrenching Christina Wong has written a story of sadness of being alone after the sudden death of your partner moving through your totality changed life.Daniel Innes’s illustrations bring the story to life.#netgalley #ecw

I can see what the author was trying to do, but unfortunately for me it wasn't successful. I was expecting a "comic/graphic novel" and so was a little disappointed, but I enjoy experimental novels, unfortunately I found this uninspiring. I did not finish the book.

DNF, but I still have opinions:

Based on the NetGalley categorization, I was under the assumption that DENISON AVENUE was a graphic novel. In its summary, the book is described as a mix of "visual art and fiction," which is fair. I love stories about cities and their inhabitants. I have a particular soft spot for stories of immigrants in the here and now, especially in Asian diasporas (I myself am part of this community). These reasons, coupled with my familiarity with Toronto, allowed me to look beyond any mild disappointment and read on.

As Cho Sum adjusts to life after her husband's death, so too is the wider community maneuvering a city that's increasingly reserved for a select few. I choked up a little in the course of my reading, as it's describing the situations in which far too many people--especially elderly folks--find themselves. Wages aren't increasing at the same rate as the costs of living, which forces us to continually look for multiple streams of income. Cho Sum sells vegetables from her garden, but doesn't talk over another woman who does the same. She also learns the ropes of bottle collection from another acquaintance, and is careful not to tread on her route, either.

While I read most of the story, I had a little under 100 pages to read before I stopped. I'll likely pick this up again when it's officially released in a few months.

Thank you to NetGalley and ECW Press for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The majority of this book is the story of an elderly Chinese woman who loses her husband and has to carry on with her life, trying to fill her days and manage her grief. This is not a book with an exciting, driving plot. Instead, you follow Wong Cho Sum's life, emotions, relationships, and observations of the world she lives in, this little slice of the Chinatown-Kensington Market area of Toronto, Canada. You sit with her in quiet moments in her home, as she collects cans, and as she lives her day-to-day in her neighbourhood.

The author chooses to mix a novel with poetry and some interesting stylistic choices. The final section contains beautiful line drawings depicting the neighbourhood and the gentrification happening in contrast. I do wish those line drawings would have appeared throughout rather than all at the end or that drawings were implemented more in the body of the novel.

This story resonated with me so hugely. It made me think a lot of the area that I live in, the Chinese community I grew up with, and my aging parents. I felt emotional throughout because it felt so familiar from the food to the shops to the acts of grieving. I was so thankful to be by the character's side as she did her best to keep going. I loved how the author showed the sense of community and the effects of change.

I also spent a lot of time working out the romanization of the Toisanese, very similar to Cantonese, which is what I speak. I found it very good practice! It did slow down my reading pace, but was an enjoyable part of the book for me. I can see it being a bit more difficult for anyone who isn't doing what I did, but the translation is right after in brackets so you could actually skim the romanization or jump to the translation. It made me think about how easy it would be to lose my connection with my language once my parents pass on.

Highly recommend for a glimpse into grief and the effects of gentrification on the elderly. Add this to your TBR!

I want to start by saying I definitely feel like some of the details of this story were lost on me as I'm not from this city, the culture, this background. But regardless I enjoyed it! Definitely not my normal read at all, and I was expecting a graphic novel which this definitely isn't.

The story was heartfelt, very emotional. You truly feel connected to the main character and the struggles she goes through. The loneliness, the heartbreak, but also the friendships and the community she becomes a part of.

As far as the physical structure, the different formats of the paragraphs, particularly the more disjointed ones, helped to get across the idea of difficult understand languages, emotions. Some made it quite difficult to read at times but most worked fine. Also I definitely would have preferred the illustrations to be integrated into the story rather than all being put at the end of the story, but they are amazing pieces of work as is.

Overall definitely not for me, it was hard getting through the story in a lot of places and some sections were quite drawn out and bland, but that could just be because I couldn't really relate. I think if you could relate to this story it would be a lot more enjoyable.

ARC courtesy of NetGalley.

Beautiful, both in prose and image.

Denison Avenue is Christina Wong's powerful story telling prowess decorated with Daniel Innes' masterful illustrations. The reader is transported into this character's life, into the hardships of being an immigrant in Toronto, into the loneliness of losing your anchor, in a way that stays with you much beyond the ending of the book.

Quite cool. Really liked the art style. Wasn't invested in the story though, so that took me out of the experience.

Unlike what it is advertised as, this is not a graphic novel. I have a thing for graphic memoirs and was looking forward to plunging into another great 2nd generation immigrant story and obvious disconnect between adoptive culture and background culture, about always being a little of both and a little of none.
There has been some really good things coming out the last couple of years and I loved the style of the cover already... but this is not what this book is.
Denison Avenue is an experimental novel, playing with words like poetry, size of fonts, amount of words on pages, sounds and all this type of thing. I've never been very much into the musicality of words so this isn't for me. The text is good but if I'm going to read text I prefer a classic novel format rather than exercises. They're popular lately so many might enjoy this more than me, especially if they are Chinese Canadians, there might be a lot that will bring back a certain nostalgia.

Christina Wong's Denison Avenue is a sorrowful but determined look at growing older and the reshaping of cities. Daniel Innes provides photo-realistic drawings of Toronto in the 1960s and after gentrification.

The Wong family, are a husband See Hei (Henry) and wife Cho Sum, and they live in Toronto's Chinatown-Kensington Market neighborhood. They have their own house with a vegetable garden and their regular habits. They visit bakeries, go to the community center or library and shop at familiar stores. They also went through the naturalization process and are both Canadian citizens.

Sadly, our story begins with tragedy as Henry is injured in a hit and run accident. Cho Sum has to figure out how to make ends meet and live on her own as old familiar places close, seemingly overnight, and neighbors change. After meeting with a friend, she begins to gather glass and cans to sell for recycling.

The narrative goes back and forth between the past and present with Cho Sum recalling moments, special events, or daily activities with See Hei. Much of it through the perspective of Cho Sum, with occasional views from other characters. It is a very internal narrative, for example Chapter 44 is Cho Sum looking through closets and other storage locations about all the things that have accumulated over the years the narrator stating "Decades of saving. A life spent saving, waiting for the right time... A moment that never arrived..." (pg. 210).

I also want to make sure to talk about two features of the text, first the characters frequently speak in the Toisan dialect that is both transliterated to an English alphabet and translated. Second, despite the distressing plot, the text itself can be quite playful in how it demonstrates events. For example, when Cho Sum arrives at the hospital she is not able to understand much of the English she hears and this is demonstrated with lots of ellipses with occasional words. There are many points were there are dual lines of texts contrasting two different thought processes. When a character makes a hand written sign it is display in the text.

My one complaint, at least for the Netgalley addition, is that Innes drawings are relegated to the end of the book. I'd selected this title with the impression that it was a Graphic narrative. If the drawings had been more integrated with the text it would have made it that more compelling to see the change as Cho Sum is.